Grandpa is back !!

Hear ye, hear ye.

Grandpa is back !!

You haven't heard from me in a long while and there is a good reason. We sold our condo and moved out on August 29th. We bought a forty year old townhouse last June and went through a total renovation. The renovation was supposed to be done on September 1st, so that we could move in right after moving out of the condo, but best laid plans didn't materialize. We spent six weeks living with our son and his family. We finally moved in to our renovated townhouse on October 10th. We were here for one week, buried up to our eyeballs in boxes, and then we left town for 8 days to attend a reunion of my Officer Candidate School class at Fort Benning, Georgia. I hadn't seen any of those fellows for 48 years and it was really fun. The Army did a great job of hosting us and showing us around Fort Benning, as well as explaining the current programs that are housed at the base. After the tours, I am convinced that there are many many very fine young people who have volunteered to serve in the Army and protect us all if need be. Rest assured, we are in good hands.

So, all of that said, you can see why I haven't been posting a lot of new recipes lately, but I hope to get back to it soon. Tonight we had our first cooked meal in the new house, and it was wonderful to just sit and relax over a simple dinner of grilled filet mignon, boiled new potatoes and a nice green salad. Easy, nothing fancy, but tasty never the less. Maybe there is a lesson to be learned there. The best part of any meal is the place where you have it and the people you share it with. You will be hearing from me again soon. 

Kitty's Cafe

Thursday is generally the day of the week that neither Jan nor I have anything scheduled, so we try to go out for a lunch date or do something else fun when we can. We have been wanting to try Kitty's Cafe for some time. Howard Hannah, the owner and executive chef at the Rieger Hotel, one of Kansas City's top restaurants was quoted as saying that "Kitty's has the best pork tenderloin in KC." 

As you can see from the photo Kitty's is not much more than a hole in the wall. It houses a kitchen, a counter at which you place your order and another counter that has about four eat-in seats. Four or five people can stand comfortably waiting on their orders, but not any more than that. There is an outdoor dining area that is sheltered by an open sided aluminum top. A few wrought iron tables and chairs complete the ambience. 

When we placed our orders for tenderloin sandwiches and fries we were asked if we wanted the regular. Since we were new customers we inquired as to what constituted a regular and were told that the regular came with, onion, tomato, lettuce and hot sauce. We had them hold the onion but went for everything else. 

Our order came out about ten minutes later, hot out of the fryer. The sandwiches had three thin slices of pork tenderloin, each breaded and fried to a lovely golden color. The toppings were as advertised and we were happy that the hot sauce wasn't too hot. Just enough to give the sandwich a delightful little kick. I had a bite before we got the picture taken, but here is what the sandwiches looked like:

I think you can see in the last photo that I enjoyed the pork tenderloin a lot. 

Kitty's is not a place for a dinner date, but if you want a good old fashioned pork tenderloin sandwich and some fries to go with it, give it a try. You will think it is fun and tasty!!

Tina's marinated and grilled flank steak

My daughter Tina is a very good cook. This is one of her go-to recipes. She marinates the meat the day ahead and then pulls it out of the fridge to grill on the day it will be served. It is really simple and very tasty. When you grill the meat, don't overcook it. Flank steak is a pretty tough cut and it will get tougher the longer you grill it. To serve,slice it across the grain into the thinnest slices you can manage. That will make the slices very tender. 

Ingredients:

11/2 to 2 Lbs. flank steak
1/2 Cup vegetable oil
4 TBSP soy sauce
4 TBSP lemon juice
3 Cloves garlic, diced
4 TBSP thinly sliced green onions
2 tsps Lawry's seasoned salt 
1/2 tsps pepper

Preparation:

24 hours before serving, combine all of the marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix together well. Put flank steak into a large sealable plastic bag. Pour marinade over the meat. Seal the bag and shake gently to cover all of the surfaces of the meat. Refrigerate until ready to cook. Grill over medium high heat. Baste with remaining marinade. It only takes a few  minutes per side to cook. Remove from grill. Let rest for 5 minutes and slice thinly. Goes well with fresh sweet corn and some sliced tomatoes from your local farmer's market. 

Susie's Pasta Salad

I haven't been doing a lot of blogging lately because we have been very busy. Two and a half years ago we sold our home and moved into a high rise condo in mid-town Kansas City. We have loved the experience, but decided that we wanted a place with our own deck and a little outside space for a pot or two of flowers and herbs. Consequently, we sold our condo and found a forty year old townhouse in Leawood, Kansas, that we are having totally renovated.  It is almost like building new, as we have to pick out flooring, tile, cabinets, paint, lights, etc. etc. We are moving out of the condo on August 28th and hope to have the townhouse done by September 1. Wish us luck with that.

Now back to food ! A couple of posts back, I mentioned we had really enjoyed some pasta salad that our neighbor Susie shared with us. I promised to post the recipe when I got it, so here goes. It is quite simple and really really good. 

Ingredients:

1 box of bow tie pasta, cooked per package directions
1 Lb bacon, cooked extra crispy, and chopped
3 heads of broccoli, chopped
1/2 cup sweet yellow onion, chopped
1/2 cup salted sunflower seeds
(for the dressing)
11/2 cup Miracle Whip
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup white vinegar

Preparation:

Combine first four ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
In a separate bowl combine the Miracle Whip, sugar and vinegar. Whip with a mixer until the dressing is smooth. Add the dressing to the other ingredients and combine well with a wooden spoon. Stir in the sunflower seeds at the end. Refrigerate and serve when chilled. Thank You, Susie !

Eggplant Parmesan- quick, easy and tasty

Eggplant parm is quick, easy and really really tasty. This is an especially easy recipe and the only time I ever use sauce from a jar. I like to feature the eggplant in the dish and don't want to overpower it with sauce, so cheating and using a good quality marinara from a jar is okay for this recipe. I served the eggplant parm tonight with a mixed green salad and a white balsamic dressing and some crusty italian bread and it made a great meatless, yet filling meal. Here is a step by step process for making Eggplant Parmesan:

Ingredients:(Serves 4)

2 Small eggplant-peeled and sliced
1 Jar good quality marinara sauce- I used Emeril's
2 Eggs
3 TBSP milk
2 Cups Italian bread crumbs
1/2 Cup olive oil
1- 8 Oz. Package finely shredded mozzarella
2 TBSP grated parmesan cheese

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Peel eggplant and slice into 3/8" slices. (Some people like to leave the skin on but I don't.)

Sliced eggplant

Peeled eggplant

Cover the bottom of a 9"x9" glass baking dish with marinara sauce, about 1/4" deep. 

Crack 2 eggs into a flat pan. Add the milk and whisk together. Add some of the Italian bread crumbs to another flat pan. Replenish as required.

Italian bread crumbs and egg and milk mixture

Dredge the eggplant slices a few at a time in the milk and egg mixture until coated on all sides, and transfer slices to the italian breadcrumbs. Turn and dredge slices until evenly coated with the bread crumbs. Set aside on a paper towel. 

Pour olive oil into a large skillet and place on a burner on medium high. Fry the breaded eggplant slices in the hot oil, a few at a time, until golden brown and tender. Don't let the oil get too hot. The eggplant should just sizzle a little while cooking.When slices are done use a tongs and lay on the marinara in the 9x9" dish. Repeat until the pan has a single layer of eggplant slices covering the bottom as in the photo below.

First layer of eggplant on the marinara

Continue frying eggplant slices and add another layer over the first layer of slices until you have a double layer filling the dish. Pour more marinara over the second layer of slices and brush it around until evenly coated. I ended up using just a little more than half of the 25 Oz. jar of marinara. Don't use too much sauce or the dish will get soupy. 

Cover the top of the dish with enough of the finely shredded mozzarella to make a 1/4" layer of cheese. Spread the parmesan cheese over the top of the mozzarella so it looks like this:

Bake in the 350 degree oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until the dish is hot and bubbly and the cheese has melted and has just begin to brown. Let sit for at least 5 minutes before serving. To make a larger batch use 2-3 large eggplant. Use a larger baking dish and adjust sauce and cheese as needed. 

After golf pick-up dinner

Today was a big day for me !! My friend Craig Burroughs is an excellent golfer and his little brother Clark is a former PGA tour professional. Anyone who knows me well, knows that I started playing golf when I was 50 years old and that I am not very good. (That is being kind). Well, today I played with Craig and Clark and another friend. I honestly have to admit that I didn't sleep very well last night in anticipation of playing with a pro. I never play well with people that I am not used to playing with, so I was naturally quite nervous. It showed, but Clark got me calmed down and made it very fun to play with him. Like usual, I had some bad holes but had some good ones too and those are the ones I choose to remember. Thanks Clark, for making it fun. Just wish I could hit a golf ball like that. He was two under and didn't really take it all that seriously. 

I decided that I would come home in a good mood and do something I think I am good at. I made what I call a pick-up meal, and it turned out to be really really good. Pick-up just means that I din't have a preconceived menu or recipes picked out ahead of time.  The pick-up menu was seared salmon on a bed of wilted spinach, topped with Beurre Blanc sauce. My neighbor Susie had borrowed a pie server from us and brought it back, along with a dish of really good pasta salad. That was our side. I hope to get the recipe from her and will feature that later on Grandpacooks. It was some of the best pasta salad I have ever had. 

Here are the recipes for what I did:

Seared salmon:

Ingredients: (serves 2)

2   6-7 Oz. salmon fillets, skin removed
Extra virgin olive oil
Coarse ground sea salt
Coarse ground black pepper
Lemon pepper seasoning

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drizzle salmon pieces with olive oil and rub over the entire surface of each piece of salmon. Season with the salt, pepper and lemon pepper seasoning. Place 1-2 TBSP olive oil in an oven proof skillet. Heat over high heat until oil just begins to smoke. Sear the salmon on one side, two to three minutes. Turn and sear the other side. Place Salmon in the 400 degree oven and finish to the desired level, approximately 4-5 minutes. 

Wilted Spinach:

Ingredients:

1-2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
2 Cloves garlic, peeled and minced
1 TBSP pine nuts
15 Oz. baby spinach
Coarse ground sea salt 
Coarse ground fresh black pepper

Preparation:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil begins to show ribbons, add garlic. Saute until soft and translucent. Add spinach and pine nuts. Saute until spinach has wilted and given up most of it's liquid. Season with salt and pepper. 

Beurre Blanc:

Ingredients:

1/2 Cup dry white wine, like Chardonnay
1/4 Cup white wine vinegar
1 TBSP minced shallots
2 TBSP heavy cream
8 Oz. unsalted butter, cubed and slightly softened
Sea salt and black pepper to taste

Preparation:

Combine wine, vinegar and shallots in a small(1 Quart) saucepan. Place on range on medium heat and simmer to reduce, until the liquid barely covers the shallots. Add cream and reduce again until cream is lightly thickened and very shiny. Reduce heat to low. Begin whisking butter a piece or two at a time into the reduction. Whisk continually and keep adding butter until it is all incorporated into the sauce. If the mixture gets too hot, reduce heat or remove pan from the flame. Season with salt and pepper to taste. 

To serve, place wilted spinach on a plate. Top with a piece of the seared salmon and drizzle the beurre blanc over the salmon and spinach. The tricky part of this is that everything is kind of happening at once. To make it easier, wilt the spinach and then turn off the heat. It will hold for a while and then just turn the heat on a couple of minutes before you serve it. You can do the sauce a little ahead too and hold it on low low heat for a few minutes. 

We had this meal with a nice Chilean Cabernet Sauvignon and it was excellent. Salute !!

Thai Quinoa Casserole

Here is a vegetarian dish that is healthy and delicious. It makes a great side for meat lovers too.  If you like spicy you can kick it up a notch or if you like mild go light on the curry powder and the cayenne.  

Ingredients:

(for main dish)
1 Cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 Small red onion, chopped
11/2 Cups broccoli, chopped
11/2 Cups cauliflower florets, chopped
11/2 Cups frozen shelled edamame
1 Red bell pepper, diced
1 Cup water
1 14 Oz. can coconut milk
11/2 tsps. curry powder
1 tsps. ground ginger
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 tsps. sea salt

(for peanut sauce)
1/2 Cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup water
2 Garlic cloves, minced
4 TBSP rice vinegar
4 TBSP tamari or soy sauce
2 TBSP honey
2 tsps. ground ginger
1/2 tsps. red pepper flakes

Preparation:

Prepare peanut sauce by combining all ingredients in a bowl. Mix well and set aside. 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a large casserole dish with cooking spray. Add uncooked quinoa to casserole dish, spreading evenly. Top with onion, broccoli, cauliflower, edamame, and red bell pepper. 

In a mixing bowl, combine water, coconut milk, curry powder, ginger, cayenne and salt. Mix thoroughly and pour mixture over quinoa and vegetables until well coated. Top with half of the peanut sauce and cover with foil. Bake for 50 minutes covered. Remove foil and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes or until all liquid has been absorbed by the quinoa. Top with remaining sauce and serve.